Russia Re-educates

Russian authorities in Belgorod are to introduce new rules forcing DJs to play only moral, decent music, the BBC revealed in November.

According to the report, councillors from the Southern Russian town have concluded that local discos represent 'a potential danger to society, hotbeds of drugs, drink and debauchery", so have decided to force DJs to spin folk music, Russian and western classics. All clubs will also now have to close by 10pm while DJs will be required to brush up on their knowledge of Soviet culture and have certain educational qualifications to qualify for a licence.

The new crackdown comes just a year after Moscow authorities launched their own equally imaginative anti-debauchery drive banning snogging on the city's underground (subway) network.

"From the New Year citizens kissing and embracing publicly will be fined," local newspaper Stolichnaya Vechernyaya Gazeta reported last November.

"Particularly blatant cases could even lead to a spell of temporary detention in jail," the paper added.

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• russia